OUR NOBLES
ing rainy and foggy weather, with the
mountain much of the time hidden from
view, but the 28th was bright and clear.
My cook, Wm. Hinshaw, of Portland,
and teamster, 0. G. McIntyre, of Sal
mon, Oregon, were in the main camp.
They are men in whose word and com
mon sense I believe reliance may be
placed.
They saw a column of smoke, prob
ably dense steam, rising from Crater
Rock, high above the sky-line of the sum
mit of the mountain.
This persisted
throughout the day.
There were probably as many as a
dozen other people at Government Camp
who also saw the smoke. An unsuccess
ful attempt was made to photograph it.
My own view of that side of the moun
tain was effectually cut off by Steel Cliff.
In the afternoon McIntyre came around
to me. He says that when crossing the
White River Valley he could look di
rectly up the canyon, in behind Crater
Rock, and the smoke appeared much
plainer than it had from Government
Camp. The stream, White River, as he
crossed it that day, was at its usual stage.
MORE EVIDENCE OF VOLCANIC ACTIVITY
That night Hinshaw, from the main
camp, saw with field glasses a glow from
behind Crater Rock which he described
as looking like a chimney burning out.
I returned the next day, the 29th, to
Government Camp, crossing on the way
th White River, which had swollen over
night to an angry stream of treble its vol
ume of the day before. The weather
was cold, and though a drizzling rain had
begun to fall in the early morning, there
T VOLCANO
525
was no warrant for the rise in the
stream except the volcanic heat melting
the glacier which is its source. Clouds
obscured the mountain for a week fol
lowing the 28th.
I moved camp on the 30th out of sight
of the crater, and during the month that
remained of the field season saw no fur
ther signs of activity.
Mr S. N. Stoner, formerly of the Sur
vey, on about the 12th of November,
which was a very clear day, saw from
Portland what he took to be smoke rising
from Hood. I have heard of no further
disturbance, and his observation at the
distance of 50 miles is of course of ques
tionable value.
It is interesting to note that this activ
ity of the old volcano was occurring at
the same time that daily changes were
being observed in the Bogaslof group of
volcanic islands off the Alaskan coast.
Whether the phenomena observed last
August presage an awakening of the old
volcano to new life, or whether they were
but a dying gasp, which over, the giant
will relapse into a yet deeper and per
haps final sleep, time alone can deter
mine. They do show, however, as Mr
J. S. Diller has pointed out, that vol
canoes like Pelee or Vesuvius, which are
intermittently active, continue to feel
throes of life at long intervals, but
weaker and weaker with the passing of
time, long after they are destructively
active.
But for the present Mount Hood must
be taken from the list of extinct vol
canoes and placed at least among the
doubtful.